In recent years, the food security is imperiled worldwide, especially in the developing world. The factors responsible include, switching of cultivation of cereals to biofuel crops in USA, Canada, Europe and Australia, climate change led global warming, depletion of food stocks and soaring prices of bread wheat and other staple food crops in global markets. The population increase, rapid economic growth and worsening global warming will add to food related social crisis in the future. Dynamic agricultural development is required to feed 10 billion people by 2050.
The demand for the cereal bread wheat Triticum aestivum, is suitable for consumption with least processing, is expected to increase by 50% over next twenty years, on account of population increase and increasing preference for it as a directly consumable staple food. Over the last decade, India has faced decrease in wheat production, increase in wheat consumption and large imports of wheat. India is also deficient in edible oil production and is examining alternate vegetable oils for conversion into biodiesel.
Wheat is conventionally sown in the month of November in the Indo-Gangetic climatic conditions. The average yield in farmer fields is about 3 tonnes per hectares. By the time the crop attains maturity it is March-April and the temperature is high. The grains get matured and plump when crop is ready for harvest.
Mustard is used in India as a source of edible oil and could serve as possible biofuel. Like many other countries, India seeks to increase wheat and Brassica mustard oil seed production, beside that of other food staples. This will involve better management of soil, irrigation water, mineral nutrition, pests and diseases, new regimen of cultivating wheat and mustard and improved cultivars to achieve the objective. Change in the regimen of cultivation is visualized as a significant means of increasing wheat and mustard production.
Reference may be made to the article of R. A Sherry et al. (2007) Divergence of reproductive phenology under climate warming. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 204: 198-202. This article reports about the effect of warming for induction of divergence in flowering and fruiting phenology and variation among species in the direction and magnitude of their response to warming caused compression and expansion of the reproductive periods of different species. Thus the article concludes that climate change would alter community level patterns of reproductive phenology.
The article only reports about the phenology change of different species due to change in temperature, but how to use the different phenologies of crops to increase their production is not the subject matter of the article. No reports have been found to utilize the phenology of crop varieties for increasing the production rate.
Another reference may be made to the article of S. M. S Tomar et al. (2004) Pusa Gold (WR544) a new variety for very late sown conditions. Intensive Agri. 42: 18-19.